Honoring Our Heritage

Asa Philip Randolph (1889-1979) was an early Civil Rights pioneer and mentor to Martin Luther King, Jr. Championing equal opportunity in the job market for Black Americans, he organized the first successful African-American led labor union, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, in 1925. He soon became a fixture in the fight for job equality, leading protests, meeting with politicians, and lobbying for change. Randolph is credited with creating the idea for a massive “March on Washington” to protest discrimination in hiring, which ultimately led to the 1963 event and Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. His tireless work for civil rights led to both the integration of the armed forces and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. Randolph was rightly awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964 by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Amanda Gorman (1998-Present) is a poet and activist whose work focuses on race, feminism, unity, and empowerment. The daughter of a single mother, Gorman grew up in Los Angeles, California. She struggled with a speech-impediment when she was a child, which forced her to pay attention to the cadence of words. A writer from a young age, Gorman was named the Los Angeles Youth Poet Laureate in 2014 and became the first National Youth Poet Laureate in 2017. She is best known for her performance of the poem “The Hill We Climb” at the 2021 presidential inauguration, becoming the youngest inaugural poet in American history. Since, Gorman has published several bestselling books, graduated from Harvard College, and inspired many other young people to speak out through their art.

Bryan Stevenson (1959-Present) is a lawyer, social activist, and the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI). Stevenson has spent his life fighting for the reform of the American justice system and the rights of those unjustly incarcerated, helping to secure over 140 people wrongfully placed on death row. Some of these stories are chronicled in Stevenson’s book Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, part of which was adapted to film in 2019, starring Michael B. Jordan as a young Bryan Stevenson. Stevenson’s work has also brought to light the inequities faced by African Americans throughout the country’s history. He spearheaded the creation of the Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama, which connects the oppression faced by African Americans pre-Civil Rights Act to current police violence.

Ella Baker (1903-1986), sometimes called the “Mother of the Civil Rights Movement,” helped found two of the most important Civil Rights organizations in the United States. Baker’s history with Civil Rights activism began in 1938 when she joined the NAACP, first serving as a field secretary, then as director of the New York City office. Baker traveled the South to empower local branches and led citizenship trainings for members, including Rosa Parks. Supporting the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Baker joined with several other leaders to hold the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1956, which would become a prominent organization headed by Martin Luther King, Jr. Baker was the only female in the SCLC’s leadership and worked tirelessly on its behalf until 1960, when she left the organization to help found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNNC). Working with the students who initiated the Greensboro Sit Ins, Baker brought out the passion and strengths of the younger generation to grow SNNC into the largest Civil Rights group in the nation. Without Baker’s galvanizing efforts, which were often underappreciated by leaders at the time, many of the Civil Rights Movement’s greatest moments could never have happened.

Madam C.J. Walker (1967-1919) is credited as the first female self-made millionaire, earning her fortune creating beauty products for African American women. Born Sarah Breedlove on December 23, 1867 in Delta, Louisiana, she was orphaned at an early age and had to begin working at age ten to support herself. In early adulthood, Walker moved to St Louis to be nearer her brothers, who were barbers. She worked as a laundress but learned from her brothers about hair care and began developing products to help with her own hair and scalp concerns. In 1904, Walker took a job selling products for Annie Tumbo Malone, an African-American hair-care entrepreneur, before eventually creating a rival business of her own. Walker began by marketing her products door to door, but the “Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company” quickly expanded to encompass several factories, beauty schools, and sales agents. Favorite products included “Wonderful Hair Grower” and “Glossine,” which were sold across the US and Caribbean. In addition to empowering women through cosmetic training and employment, Walker also contributed large amounts of money to charity. Madam C.J. Walker paved the way for more equitable access to beauty products for women of color and created a whole new sector of the beauty industry, which thrives to this day.

Peggy Flanagan is Minnesota’s 50th Lieutenant Governor, a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, and currently the country’s highest ranking Native woman elected to executive office. Flanagan’s work is focused on uplifting the underrepresented, supporting working-class families and raising awareness about issues that impact underserved communities. Flanagan champions women in government and child-advocacy on local and Minnesota state-wide efforts.

Matika Wilbur is a visual storyteller from the Swinomish and Tulalip Nations. Wilbur is best known for her work chronicling the vibrancy of Native America through Project 562. She has photographed members of over 300 Tribal Nations throughout 40 states, from Tlingits in Alaska to the Pima in Arizona, Pomos in California to Wampanoags on Cape Cod. Wilbur strives to change the perception of Indigenous people across Turtle Island and cultivate a more nuanced understanding of Native life in the 21st century.

Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer is a Potawatomi Nation citizen, scientist, author, mother, and professor. Kimmerer is best known for her award-winning books including: Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses; The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World; and Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants. Kimmerer tours frequently and is passionate about teaching people about ecology and restoring and strengthening our relationship with the land.

A Diné (Navajo) of the Dibé izhiní clan on his mother’s side, Tom Goldtooth is Dakota Bdewakantonwan Hunka from Minnesota. Goldtooth is the executive director of the Indigenous Environmental Network and has built an organization of 250 Indigenous communities focused on climate justice, green energy, clean water, and sustainable development. Goldtooth speaks on environmental justice, with a focus on Indigenous people globally, as not only survivors of environmental colonialism but those who hold the knowledge of mending our relationship with mother Earth.

We’wha (1849-1896) was a Lhamana person of the Zuni people. We’wha, as an Lhamana person, took on roles that were considered both traditionally male and female within their community. These tasks included spiritual work, pottery, weaving and being a cultural ambassador for their people. This last role led We’wha into a formal ambassadorship between the Zuni people and the U.S. government, causing them to be one of the most well-documented historical, queer Native individuals to date. We’wha’s dedication to their people and traditions has inspired many queer Natives for generations.

"I was born with Larsen syndrome, a genetic physical disability...In 2018, I was selected for the American Association of People with Disabilities’ Paul G. Hearne Emerging Leader Award. In 2022, the Jewish Federations of North America and the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism honored me with their Disability Advocate of the Year Award, the New York City Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities honored me with the Frieda Zames Advocacy Award, and The Viscardi Center honored me with the Henry Viscardi Achievement Award, which recognizes international leaders with disabilities...My first book, Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to Be An Ally, was published by Ten Speed Press in September 2021." (emilyladau.com) (Photo Credit: Emily Ladau)

"The first Deafblind person to graduate from Harvard Law School, Haben Girma is a human rights lawyer advancing disability justice. President Obama named her a White House Champion of Change, and the World Health Organization appointed her Commissioner of Social Connection. She received the Helen Keller Achievement Award, a spot on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, and TIME100 Talks. Haben believes disability is an opportunity for innovation, and she travels the world teaching organizations the importance of choosing inclusion. Harnessing the power of the written word to spark advocacy, she wrote and published the book that became a bestseller (Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law). Haben was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she currently lives. She enjoys dancing, walking in nature, and culinary adventures." (habengirma.com)

"James (Jim) LeBrecht is a filmmaker, sound designer and mixer, author, screenwriter, and Disability rights activist with over 40 years of experience. His film sound credits include Minding the Gap, Crip Camp, The Island President, The Waiting Room, and Audrie and Daisy. LeBrecht co-directed and co-produced the Netflix Original, 2020 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award-winning feature-length documentary, Crip Camp, with Nicole Newnham. LeBrecht is the co-author of Sound and Music for the Theatre: The Art and Technique of Design, a comprehensive text that discusses the aesthetics of sound design for the stage, now in its fourth edition. He is currently a board member at the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund, which works for the rights of the disabled through education, legislation, and litigation. Jim has joined several scripted projects as a director and producer." (FordFoundation.org)

"Ryan O’Connell is the Emmy-nominated creator, writer, and star of Netflix’s Special, which is based on his memoir, I’m Special: And Other Lies We Tell Ourselves. He’s also written for other TV shows like Will & Grace, Awkward, and Peacock’s Queer as Folk revival, which he also stars in. He lives, laughs, and loves in Los Angeles with his partner, Jonathan Parks-Ramage." (SimonAndSchuster.com)

"Dr. Grandin did not talk until she was three and a half years old. She was fortunate to get early speech therapy. Her teachers also taught her how to wait and take turns when playing board games. She was mainstreamed into a normal kindergarten at age five. Oliver Sacks wrote in the forward of Thinking in Pictures that her first book Emergence: Labeled Autistic was “unprecedented because there had never before been an inside narrative of autism.” Articles about Dr. Grandin have appeared in Time Magazine, New York Times, Discover Magazine, Forbes and USA Today. HBO made an Emmy Award winning movie about her life and she was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2016...When she was young, she was considered weird and teased and bullied in high school. The only place she had friends was activities where there was a shared interest such as horses, electronics, or model rockets...Today half the cattle in the United States are handled in facilities she has designed." (TempleGrandin.com)

"Over the past 35 years, well-respected knowledge keeper Albert McLeod has worked tirelessly for the rights of Two-Spirit (2S), lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer (2LGBTQ+) people in the local community and across the continent. McLeod is a status Indian with ancestry from Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation and the Métis community of Norway House. Known as a progressive thinker and visionary, McLeod has led the way for rights and recognition of 2S people in North America since 1986...McLeod’s innovative leadership led to the development of services for impacted communities, including Nine Circles Community Health Centre, Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network, and Ka Ni Kanichihk’s HIV intiatives...He also participated on the Advisory Council to help the Government of Canada develop an apology for injustices faced by 2LGBTQ+ communities. McLeod’s work extends beyond the 2LGBTQ+ community. He is also engaged in human-rights activism, cross-cultural training, cultural reclamation, and language workshops, and has served as an advisor and activist for Winnipeg’s inner-city community." (The University of Winnipeg, 2024) (Photo Credit: Christina W. Kroeker)

"Throughout his life, in the face of injustice, lack of rights, and oppression, Kramer harnessed his anger to propel creativity and action: both in his efforts to organize and activate his community, and through his art...Among other things, Kramer was known as the founder of Act Up, or AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, whose collective organizing pushed for more AIDS drugs research and an end to discrimination against the gay community. When he founded the organization in 1987, the AIDS epidemic was devastating the gay community...Kramer wrote The Normal Heart after visiting the Dachau concentration camp in Germany and learning more about the silence and inaction of Germans and other European nations to stop the Holocaust. Kramer felt that the same thing was happening with the AIDS crisis—people weren’t mad enough to say anything and act...Kramer today is rightly remembered for his loud voice in the face of oppression, lack of accessible healthcare, and inertia by elected officials.” (Teplitzky, 2022) (Photo Credit: Getty Images)

"Lou Sullivan (1951-1991) was a gay and transgender historian, community organizer, and diarist. Sullivan’s diaries chronicle his social and medical transition – as well as his rich emotional and sexual life – from his teenage years in Milwaukee until his death. Sullivan struggled throughout his early life to understand himself and his gender...After moving to San Francisco and fighting to make himself understood to his therapist and partner, Sullivan transitioned and rapidly became a leader in the transmasculine community. Sullivan published two books — a guide called Information For the Female-to-Male Crossdresser and Transsexual, and a biography of an early 20th century trans man, From Female to Male: The Life of Jack Bee Garland. He also became a founding member of the GLBT Historical Society. In 1986, Sullivan was diagnosed with HIV. He died of AIDS-related complications in 1991, at the age of 39." (glbthistory.org) (Photo Credit: Flame Sullivan)

"Miss Major is a Black, transgender activist who has fought for over fifty years for her trans/gender nonconforming community. Major is a veteran of the infamous Stonewall Riots, a former sex worker, and a survivor of Dannemora Prison and Bellevue Hospital’s “queen tank.” Her global legacy of activism is rooted in her own experiences, and she continues her work to uplift transgender women of color, particularly those who have survived incarceration and police brutality...She now runs House of GG-TILIFI, a retreat center for trans and gender nonconforming leaders from the Southern U.S., in Little Rock, Arkansas. Her recent creative projects include executive producing the series Trans in Trumpland (now streaming everywhere), and Miss Major Speaks, a book on her life’s activism co-authored with Toshio Meronek (host of the podcast Sad Francisco), is out now from Verso Books." (MissMajor.net) (Photo Credit: Whitten Sabbatini)

"Stacey Park Milbern, a resident of Oakland, California, was a Korean-American disability justice activist who helped create the Disability Justice movement and advocated for fair treatment of disabled people...At the age of 16, she was an influential leader within the North Carolina Youth Leadership Network. Thanks to her work (in partnership with other NC advocates) the state began including disability history as part of its high school curriculum. She was appointed by the Governor of North Carolina to the Statewide Independent Living Council from 2004 to 2010 and to the North Carolina Commission for the Blind from 2006 to 2008...In 2014, she was appointed by President Obama to the President's Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities. Stacey was also a co-author of Bernie Sander's Disability Rights platform and an Impact Producer for NETFLIX's acclaimed documentary "Crip Camp." Her writings, poetry, speeches, and community organizing served as a catalyst for some of the progressive work happening within the Disability Justice and Disability Rights movements.[In Stacey's own words:] 'I want to leave a legacy of disabled people knowing we are powerful and beautiful because of who we are, not despite of it.'" (ilry.org) (Photo Credit: Estate of Stacey Milbern)

"Pushing the envelope on what hip-hop can look and sound like, Xiuhtezcatl’s message and depth transcends his mere twenty-one years on the planet, yet is still packed with all the hard-hitting grit that appeals to today’s generation of listeners...X is breaking onto the scene, not only as a musician, but also as an activist, a model, an entrepreneur, and a cross-cultural icon. Being bilingual and a skilled code switcher, he incorporates Spanish and English interchangeably into his music, which has become the outlet for representing his generation, and his people. Xiuhtezcatl has performed and collaborated with artists such as Raury, WILLOW, and Jaden, while building outside the boundaries of the music industry to use art to challenge systems of injustice and re-envision the future...X explores culture, legacy, and his identity and struggles as a young Indigenous man growing up as a minority in mainstream America. X is committed to delivering music that has as much meaning as it has radio appeal." (xiuhtezcatl.com) (Photo Credit: Josué Rivas)

"Felicia "Flames" Elizondo authored a powerful legacy rooted in her identity as a Latinx trans woman. Felicia Elizondo is a self-described “Mexican spitfire, screaming queen, pioneer, legend, icon, diva, 29-year survivor of AIDS and Vietnam veteran.” Her activism has been crucial in raising public awareness of transgender rights and history...Around the age of 16, she found refuge at Gene Compton’s Cafeteria in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood...In 1966, three years before Stonewall, it became the site of one of the first LGBT riots in U.S. history...Elizondo joined the Navy at age 18 and volunteered to serve in Vietnam...Consequently, she was interrogated by the FBI and the CIA, and the Navy dismissed her with an undesirable discharge. Later, she successfully petitioned to have her discharge reclassified as honorable...In 1987, during the AIDS epidemic, Elizondo tested positive for HIV...She became a trans drag queen and organized drag shows to raise funds for numerous HIV/AIDS nonprofits. Elizondo has worked extensively to bring public attention to transgender history...Elizondo appeared in the documentary “Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton’s Cafeteria” (2005). In 2015 she served as the lifetime achievement grand marshal of the San Francisco Pride Parade. Elizondo died on May 15, 2021." (Equality Forum, 2020) (Photo Credit: Pax Ahimsa Gethen)

"Pedro Albizu Campos (b. 1891-d. 1965) was a Puerto Rican attorney, social activist, and nationalist. Albizu Campos was the son of a mixed-race mother who was the daughter of slaves and a Basque father from a farming and landowning family...He served in an African American military unit during World War I, and the racism that he encountered during his service instilled in him a negative view of the United States. After an honourable discharge he entered Harvard Law School, graduating in 1921...Upon his return to Puerto Rico, he helped to reignite the battle for independence in the hopes of disrupting a proposed plan to grant Puerto Rico commonwealth status...[and] was promptly arrested and sentenced the following year to an 80-year term in prison. He received a pardon in 1953 from Gov. Luis Muñoz Marin. However, the pardon was revoked a year later following an attack by Nationalists on the U.S. House of Representatives. Albizu Campos praised the attack and was suspected of having planned it...[his] health again deteriorated while he was in prison...He alleged that he had been poisoned with radiation (the U.S. Department of Energy confirmed in 1994 that human radiation experimentation had been conducted on prisoners without their consent). He was pardoned once more by Muñoz Marin in 1964, and he died the following April." (Darder, 2024) (Photo Credit: Associated Press)

"Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales (b. 1928–d. 2005) was a Mexican American boxer, writer, and civil rights activist who was a leading figure in the Chicano Movement of the 1960s and ’70s. Because of his prowess as a boxer, he was known as the “fist” of the movement...He earned the nickname “Corky” after his uncle commented on his personality, saying that he was “always popping off like a cork"...In 1966 Gonzales founded the organization Crusade for Justice...[offering] the Chicano community such benefits as job training, a food bank, and a bilingual school for children that encouraged cultural pride. ...[while also protesting] against police brutality, racism in the media, and employment discrimination...The group notably participated in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s Poor People’s Campaign, which culminated in a demonstration in Washington, D.C., in 1968...Gonzales is perhaps best known, however, for the epic poem I Am Joaquín (Yo Soy Joaquín), which was published in both English and Spanish in 1967. Its narrator discusses Mexican and Mexican American history and outlines the struggles that Chicanos have endured in their quest for a cultural identity and equal rights." (Britannica, 2024) (Photo Credit: Webb Canyon Chronicle)

"Born in 1916 in San Antonio, Texas, Emma Tenayuca lived at a time when Mexican Americans were allowed few freedoms and fewer privileges...At a time when neither Mexican-Americans nor women were expected to speak out, she spoke out fearlessly, and was soon known as a fiery orator and a brilliant organizer. [In] 1938, when San Antonio’s lowest paid workers suffered massive wage cuts, they decided to strike. The city’s twelve thousand pecan shellers, most of them women, elected Emma to lead their strike. In less than two months, the pecan shellers forced the owners to raise their pay. The pecan shellers strike is considered by many historians to be the first significant victory in the Mexican American struggle for political and economic equality in this country...Emma always focused on empowering people in the most basic and humane ways, inspiring and supporting their ability to work, to eat, to feed their families, to read, to vote..They called her “La Pasionaria de Texas.” And they kept her story alive, even when so many others tried to erase it from history. (AmericansWhoTellTheTruth.org) (Photo Credit: The San Antonio Light Collection, The Institute of Texan Cultures at UTSA)